At 500 miles up, at the speed of 18,000 miles an hour, Sputnik circled the globe every 96 minutes, making 1,440 orbits around the Earth before beginning its rentry.

Sputnik probably broke up somewhere above the western United States. A man in Encino, CA, woke up one morning and noticed something glowing in his backyard. Upon inspection, it proved to be plastic tubing of the type used in Sputnik. No one has been able to prove whether this in fact was part of the satellite.

Sputnik 2 contained a dog named Laika, making her the first living creature to enter space. Although food and water were provided to her, she did not survive more than a few hours due to the intense heat.

The first Sputnik provided scientists with data about the nature and ion density of the Earth’s upper atmosphere. It was important to know how radio frequencies would work in space and thus whether astronauts would be able to communicate with a base on Earth.